In our regular series, we’re profiling key members of The Icehouse team, so our wider network of alumni, programme and workshop participants, partners and friends get to know us better. Meet Mariko Rogers, Lead Analyst at The Icehouse.
Mariko joined The Icehouse in 2007, making her one of our longest-serving team members. Much of that time has been spent around data collection and administrative tasks but first and foremost, Mariko provides the wider organisation with vital insights through Salesforce.
‘I look after the data. I started off as the receptionist, then moved into sales support, sales administration – overseeing the invoicing for our programmes and so on. I picked up a lot of the IT work after my manager left, and the role has since evolved into all things data-related. Salesforce requires continuous online training, so I learn as I go,’ says Mariko.
One source of truth
‘Salesforce is important as it acts as our one source of truth; connecting the different functionalities in the business, e.g. marketing, finance and operations, enabling us to store and analyse information that helps us help our customers, both existing and future.
‘I love the variety of what I do. You are trusted to get on and do the work. I like getting on and figuring things out. I also like to think what I do makes a difference to other people and because we are a small organisation in some respects, there are always so many different projects to take on along the way. Everyone gets pulled into different things. I like the scope The Icehouse has,’ she adds.
Born in Hong Kong, Mariko has had a truly international upbringing. She has Scottish and Japanese heritage, and spent her early years in the Middle East and Asia, before attending boarding school in Scotland from the age of 10 to 18.
After graduating from University she worked and lived in London, where she met husband Simon [Rogers, Operations Executive at The Icehouse].
‘Simon is from New Zealand and around 2006 he was ready to come home. I went with him and we emigrated in 2007, the same year I joined The Icehouse. I’d been to NZ before on holiday and Simon kept talking about moving back home and I didn’t mind because I moved around a lot when I was young, so I was fine living anywhere!
Adventure awaits
Thanks to such a cosmopolitan upbringing, Mariko is a born traveller and the Rogers family spend a lot of time touring New Zealand. Like all of us, she is waiting for the green light for safe travel globally. ‘We were meant to go to Oman and then onto Dubai in 2020, but obviously that was impossible due to Covid-19. We’ll just have to be patient for our next adventure!’
Papercraft and reading keep Mariko creative and calm when she’s not at The Icehouse or racing around after her young children! ‘I’ve always enjoyed reading and I love my Kindle! I am never without a book and I love fiction.’
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